acne

[materof4]

daughter has terrible acne does anyone know of a treatment which works?

How old is she?

Dianette worked for me, but you may not want her to take the pill.

she is 16- what is Dianette?

Take her to the docs. They can give her facewashes etc and also a course of antibiotics which she takes long term. There's loads they can do and she doesn't need to suffer.

antibiotics not working at all.. and she is now worried about scarring so we need to do something which actually makes a difference

Ask the doctor to refer her to a dermatologist.

Dianette is the contraceptive pill (think it's combined). The doctor prescribed it to me after the previous medication didn't work. It was a long time ago now so I can't remember if it was antibiotics I had the first time round.

It cleared the acne and I haven't looked back since. From memory, the doctor said acne can be caused by having too much testosterone and the combined pill will counteract this.

I hope you find something that works.
x

Dermalogica products work. She needs to use really regularly, but also take her to see gp.

It depends TOTALLY on what is causing the acne.

Personally I use Oil Cleansing Method - this is one of the few methods I've known to work across the board with all acne, for many people it's the only thing that has worked after years of different treatment. I recommend she try it, this will help her acne, and will significantly improve her skin in general too - moisturised, glowing, not greasy, etc.

As a note on hormonal birth control - it will suppress her cycles which effects her ability to care for sexual health long-term, there are health risks, and it may effect breast and bone development - it's major overkill for acne. Unless the acne is hormonal, even then no guarantee, hormonal birth control is unlikely to help acne - if it is hormonal then there are less extreme ways to help, such as regulating hormones.

As I said acne can be caused by too much testosterone.

Obviously it depends on what is causing the acne. No need to be so patronising.

Acne's most likely caused by hormonal fluctuation. The endocrine system's such a weird one. Marilyn Glenville has done some excellent research and writing about the influence of diet on hormones (low GI can be v good.) Also stress is awful. Some supplements can be hugely useful for regulating hormonal fluctuations rather than taking the Pill. (I'm not against conventional medicine, btw, just in favour of using the best of all things available.)

Though topical applications have their place, imho, they will just be struggling to manage a symptom rather than addressing the underlying cause. They might help in the short term, dietary and supplement measures may take a while to have an effect. Sometimes it's better to just stop aggravating the skin and keeping on bombarding it with more things. Address what's underlying it all?

Sorry if any of this sounds patronising, btw, am NOT a doctor or holder of medical qualifications, but had it myself in a milder form in my teens, and it was only good diet that calmed it all down. Made me horribly self conscious.

Not patronising at all. I was well into my 20s when I had the acne and I wish I'd know of other treatments available, but just went with what was offered as I was desperate. I was ver self conscious too and even considered taking time off sick from work as I didn't want people looking at my horrible face.

I did say originally that mater may not want to give her daughter the Pill, but just thought I would share my experience.

I'm sure a doctor/dermatologist can help more than any of us can.
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I had bad acne in my early 20s. One thing that really helped me was to avoid touching my face at all. If I had touched my face I would immediately wash my face and hands. It sounds like an old wives tale but it did help a lot. My acne was quite infected though, perhaps a factor in this method being effective for me? I also tried antibiotics - they did work for me but only at a very high dose that I wasn't allowed to take for long. I did have dianette and it was partially effective, with a very good skincare regimen it might have been very good.

There are lots of good treatments, it is good to try and get it sorted as, if she is anything like me, she might not grow out of it. It is only worth going to a derm if you want to try accutane. It can only be prescribed in hospital as it can have serious side effects and needs monitoring. It knocks out the oil producing glands in the skin and is normally effective. I think they'll ask you to try some other treatments first.

Don't bother at all with topical treatments, benzyl peroxide, clearasil etc. I learnt by painful years of experience that drying out the skin would only make my problem worse.

thank you everyone think I will try dermatologist as advice is so conflicting, and I feel uncomfortable about daughter going on pill at such young age. need expert advice...